118 Notes on Central Asia. [No. 3, 



the fourth decade of the present century that we became more 

 familiar with Central Asia, from the side of the Djungarian and 

 Kirghiz steppes, after the foundation of the Russian town Ayaguz, 

 on the upper course of one of the rivers of the Balkhash basin, and 

 after the submission of a portion of the great Hordes under Sultan 

 Siik, son of Ablai Khan. These events gradually rendered not only 

 lake Balkhash, but also the mountainous districts of Djungaria, more 

 accessible to travellers. 



In 1834 the astronomer Fedorof was enabled to reach the embou- 

 chure of the Lepsa, and determine its geographical position, under 

 16 -} North Latitude. He also succeeded in visiting the southern 

 shore of lake Faisan and in making a trigonometrical measurement of 

 Tarbagatai. A little later, the relations of Russia with the Kirghiz 

 Hordes became more satisfactory, and in 1840, 1841 and 1842 the 

 learned travellers Karelin and Schrenk, penetrated into the moun- 

 tainous portions of Djungaria or the Snow-clad Djungarian Alatau. 

 Karelin explored the wild valleys of the upper courses of the Lepsa, 

 Sarkan and Baskan rivers, as high as the snow-line. 



Alexander Schrenk visited, and it maybe said discovered to science, 

 tin.' lake Ala-Kul, crossed over the Djungarian Alatau to the Chinese 

 . attained the upper course of the Tentek, and reached the snow 

 line on several occasions. The extreme limits of his journey on 

 the plain bordering lake Alakul, were the Chinese town of Chu- 

 guchak, in Alpine Djungaria, — the hills skirting the banks of the 

 KokfiU river, and the river Chu (or Tzu) in the hungry Betpak- 

 -Dalor desert, South West of lake Balkhash. Subsecpiently the 

 voluntary submission of the remaining portion of the so-called Great 

 Kirghiz Horde, in 1844, led to the Russian occupation of that rich 

 and fertile portion of Djungaria, which is known under the name of 

 the Seinipalatinsk region, from the seven tributaries of the Balkhash 

 that water it. The Russian town of Kopal was founded by Governor 

 General Prince Gorchakof, in 1846, on a fertile plateau at the base 

 of a snow-capped spur of the Djungarian Alatau. The establishment 

 of this town ensured the development of the already existing relations 

 of Russia with the neighbouring Chinese province of Hi. Although 

 rapidly increasing, tlie trade with the Western Chinese region, through 

 the towns of KuMja, and more especially Chuguchak, encountered 



